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Boeing will raise 737 production to 42 a month, two per work day, in the first half of 2014, the company announced Wednesday.

“Customers are demanding our Next-Generation 737 at an unprecedented rate,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and Chief Executive Jim Albaugh said in a news release. “New performance improvements and enhanced passenger comfort features have driven home the value equation for our customers.”

Boeing already had announced plans to raise 737 production from the current rate of 31.5 a month to 35 early next year and 38 in the second quarter of 2013, and executives had said the company was looking at going to 42 or more a month after that. The company has netted orders for 65 737s so far this year, bringing its total 737 backlog to 2,101.
Airbus announced in May that it will will raise production of its competing single-aisle A320 Family to 42 a month in the fourth quarter of 2012, the plane maker announced Monday. It now builds 36 a month and plans to go to 38 in August and 40 early next year.

The reason for the increases is simple: demand.

“If you come in today and you want any substantial number of 737s, the conversation will start in 2016,” Beverly Wyse, 737 vice president and general manager, said during a media session at Boeing earlier this month.

Hurdles in raising production including the capacity of suppliers to keep up and assurance that demand will stay so high long enough for necessary expansions to make sense for Boeing and its suppliers.

“We want to make sure that we can maintain those production rates ideally for at least two years,” Wyse said.

Boeing’s 737 final assembly plant, in Renton, produces 21 airplanes a month on its first assembly line and would go to 21 a month under Boeing’s new plan. A third line currently produces only 737-based P-8 military aircraft, but could add commercial jets.

Addressing the supplier issue Wednesday, Wyse said:

We have worked very closely with our supply chain and our world-class manufacturing team to ensure we can increase rate in an efficient and responsible fashion. We believe that many of the capital investments and production system changes made for 38 airplanes per month will already position us to build 42. We are very well situated for this rate increase.

Looking further forward, Boeing executives plan to decide this year whether to outfit the 737 family with new, more-efficient engines or launch a new aircraft program. They’ve consistently said they are leaning toward a new aircraft that would aim to enter service in 2019 or 2020.

What does this mean for Renton?

“In terms of a re-engining, we have a concept for how we would transition here at the site,” Wyse said. “As far as a new aircraft goes, we’re not that far in our planning.”

With 84,000 aerospace workers statewide – today’s announcement further shows that we are the premier location for aerospace. As Boeing already knows, Washington state’s highly skilled workforce, its friendly business environment and unmatched quality of life makes our area one where aerospace companies choose to locate and expand. …

I have pledged to the company that I am committed to doing all I can to ensure the Boeing 737 remains an important part of our state’s future. Our aerospace industry, our families and our economic success depend on it.

The 737-800 now has about an 8 percent advantage over the A320 in cost per seat mile, Wyse said. She said the plane would still have a slight edge over a re-engined A320, while other 737 models would be competitive.

Re-engining the 737 would restore the current advantage, while a new plane could double the difference, Wyse said.

One concern for customers is whether Boeing would actually deliver the new plane when it says it will, given that the 787 Dreamliner is more than three years late.

“We can and we will have to address that confidence factor,” Wyse acknowledged.

The next airplane will build on the Dreamliner, she said. “The 787 took huge leaps across multiple technologies, as well as the business model and the production systems.”

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.